this forum welcomes all forumers who appreciate decent and well thought out views and discussions. all forumers are encouraged to accept that different forumers have different views and often there is no absolutely right or wrong views.

I am not surprised with the outbreak of Hepatitis C at SGH. Sometime back I had some sudden lost of hearing problem in my left ear and was referred by Hougang Polyclinic to seek further advice in the ENT Department of Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The ENT doctor in TTSH who attended to me happened to be a foreign talent. After some checking of my ear I was told there was nothing wrong with my ears. So the ENT doctor recommended me for an MRI of the brain to rule out any tumour growth in my brain. I told the ENT doctor in charge of my case that I have a pace maker when he told me about sending me for an MRI. But on the day scheduled when I went for my MRI the radiologist was surprised when I told him that I ave a pace maker, because he could not find any note or statement regarding my pace maker. It is vitally important that a pace maker specialist must be arranged to stand by to monitor my pace maker before my MRI. Clearly the ENT doctor who recommended me for MRI negligently forgot to state in the form to the radiologist that I have a pace maker and therefore the radiologist could not conduct an MRI for me because it wasn't right to do so without the pace maker specialist standing by. I was later referred back to the same ENT doctor who apologised to me but then stated after all he is no longer sending me for MRI because it incurred risk. I thanked him but in my heart I really don't know what hubris he was talking or was he thinking of something else. Well, the ENT was a foreign talent. I nearly die in his hand.

Last month I suffered great giddiness or vertigo and was recommended by my outside GP to TTSH Emergency Admission . Can you imagine I was attended by another doctor of foreign origin . I spent the whole afternoon and night waiting for treatment. By the time I had to collect my medicine it was about 9.00pm. I was charged a total of slightly over hundred dollars. When I told the cashier that I am under the Pioneer Status and would like to pay through my Medisave. I was shocked to hear form her that in the emergency section pioneer status and medisave do not apply and so I had to pay either in cash or via Visa Credit Card. Subsequently I found out from a prominent Pharmacy that the anti-giddiness tablets I was prescribed cost only very much less than
a dollar . I am still in shock.

The glorious days of Singapore hospitals with an impeccable track record of quality hospital care, great medical professionals from the top to the bottom, to the nurses and the assistants and drivers, all Singaporeans, are dimming. This outbreak of hepatitis C in the SGH is unacceptable, cannot be tolerated, cannot happen, but happened. People admitted to hospitals to be cured and healed, but found dead or infected with hepatitis C they did not bring along. How to explain this cruel change of fate and medical conditions, and they paid for it with good money, expecting the best, to walk in alive and leaving alive and better?

I think it would be a good marketing theme to market an authentic Singaporean Hospital, all the staff, from the specialists, doctors, nurses, technicians, administrators, supporting services, drivers and assistants, all genuine true blue Singaporeans. That will set a new kind of standard and expectation that paying patients can expect to be care for by the best Singaporeans can do for them.

The Singaporean Brand, the pride of Singapore, needs a revamp, a rebranding, to be true and authentic, not diluted or compromised, to be the deliverer of first class quality services, must be resurrected.

Would there be a hospital to adopt this Brand and policy, to give the patients the best quality of professionalism and services, the Singaporean way, the Singapore Brand, to differentiate from those that put on the Singapore Brand but manned by people from all corners of the world? There is a great difference between a coating and a homogenous product, Singapore on the outside but foreigners, 3rd World on the inside, or Singapore through and through. You can scratch it, drop it, hammer at it, it is Singaporean thick and through. And Singaporean means quality, dedication, commitment and devotion, to be the very best.

Ignore the fools who think Singaporeans are daft, untalented, no skill sets and needed to be replaced by foreigners.

Let there be a Made In Singapore authentic Singaporean Hospital, to show the rest the difference in being part of the Singapore Brand. And this authentic Made In Singapore Brand is applicable to other services, products and industries as well. The call for this differentiation is necessary and urgent to save the Singapore Brand._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

Khaw Boon Wan got another job waiting for him
Khaw Boon Wan must thank his colleagues for providing all the opportunities to make him look so good, by digging holes for him to fill and to be carried around like the hero that is there at the right time to save a bad situation. The housing problems in Singapore were so classic that it must be the best case study of how a govt can turn a good situation into the biggest flop in public housing. And it did not need a genius to turn it around. Surprisingly no other ministers was confident or smart enough to see the opportunity to turn it around, and for this credit must go to Boon Wan to seize the moment, to make it right.
Now with the Transport Ministry facing a crisis with all the super talented ministers failing one after another, it would be foolhardy for any minister to volunteer for this job. Boon Wan ended with this unenviable task to right a very difficult task. This one I must admit would test his mettle in working out a sustainable long term solution.
Should Boon Wan come up on top in the Transport Ministry, he has another job waiting for him urgently. He would be badly needed in the Health Ministry this time to stop the rot. An outbreak of hepatitis C and causing so many death is just unbelievable and unacceptable in Singapore. This kind of thing is quite normal in 3rd World countries when basic hygiene, equipment, facilities and well trained medical staff are lacking. How could it happen in our everything world class, everything so expensive hospital? Are we that much different from the 3rd World village medical standard?
And as expected, we have no talents to deal with such a bad situation and the MOH is calling for foreign experts to find out why and to provide the solutions. I would like to suggest the academia and professional bodies to decorate our local talents with more beautiful titles, strings of them, to add glory and colour to their credentials so that they will be invited to sit on such expert boards to solve our problems. They may also be invited to solve problems of other countries as experts. Give them more and better titles as specialists, experts, emeritus or whatsoever, to walk around and be noticed.
Boon Wan better get his job in the Transport Ministry done quickly as he is badly needed, urgently needed in the Health Ministry. This is a job waiting for him, the master problem solver, the minister with all the answers when other ministers are found wanting._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

Transparency and integrity of the govt and public officers
‘The Minister for Health was first informed about the matter on Sept 18. He directed that it be made public, and that a full public explanation be given. Ms Chang makes much of the minister being ”officially” informed on Sept 18, implying that he knew unofficially before that.’
Lim Bee Khim (Ms), Press Secretary to the Minister for Health
The above is quoted from an article posted in TRE by Lim Bee Khim of MOH. This was a reply in response to all the doubts, queries and insinuations that the Minister of Health, Gan Kim Yong knew about the hepatitis outbreak in May but did not make it public to alarm the people and might even affect the GE. The negative rumours are understandable given the serious nature of the outbreak and the concerns on the outcome of the general election. The public are questioning the integrity of the political leaders who have been the most vocal about transparency, integrity and timeliness of reporting such a matter. In fact the same concerns were the key issues in the AHPETC disclosure. And the WP was accused of not being transparent, not reporting the shortcomings timely and all the same things the public are accusing the govt now. When a govt knew how to call on the WP to answer to such charges, it is clear that the govt knew such things are wrong and definitely would not stoop so low to commit the same.
Now, to imply that the govt also committed the same sin of not disclosure of such sensitive matter, not being transparent or intentional hiding the information from the people would justify a robust reply from the govt. How can the public accuse the govt for such wrongdoings? Read the above comment of Lim Bee Khim, the minister when informed ‘officially’ quickly asked for it to be made public and called for an explanation. This kind of swift action and accountability is the standard of this govt. They deserved the 70% support from the people.
We have leaders with high integrity and unquestionable honesty in the govt. To cast doubt on their integrity and honesty is unacceptable. The public officers in the MOH too are men and women of the highest caliber and integrity. They would not hide such information from Gan Kim Yong. And if Gan Kim Yong knew about it, he would not hide it from the people as well.
There is no question of their integrity and honesty. The people must trust the public officers and the minister for doing their job professionally and not to serve political expediency. If they were found out to be otherwise, it would drag down the reputation of the whole govt together with them. See, after 6 months of investigation they could not find out anything and are reporting the matter to the police for more investigation. They are also getting international experts to look into the matter. They want to know the truth, even if it is 6 months late.
Anyone wanting to cast doubts on the public officers and the minister must have facts to prove them. And in this case the MOH has given a clear explanation beyond any reasonable doubt with all the time lines of the events happening, and has nothing to hide.
How can there still be doubts of their honesty and integrity? Case close, unless they can put up proof to show otherwise.
PS. OK IBs, your turn to add more to my comments. I don’t think Gan Kim Yong dare to cover up this incident if he knew about it officially or unofficially before the GE. If kena found out he will be finished._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

Still reminiscing the good old days when life was good, when many things were free. Dental and medical treatments were free for children. And as adults working in the civil service, hospitalization entitlement was free even for the wife, and in A Class ward. Many retired civil servants that opted out from the old medical schemes are kicking themselves silly today when the cost of A Class ward today is like paying for a Presidential Suite in a 5 star hotel.

Just a few decades ago, practically every Singaporeans, technicians and taxi drivers, would opt for A Class wards on admission to a hospital. A Class was affordable to the average Singaporeans with their large savings in their CPF. Today, you no longer hear the average Singaporeans asking for A or even B1 wards in privatized public hospitals. They know that one admission would make them a bankrupt or in debt forever. I have made up my mind that C Class is what I could afford should I ‘sway sway’ get admitted to a private public govt hospitals. And I am not even sure if I could afford to pay the medical bills even with subsidies and with the MediShield Life Scheme.

Below are a couple of comments from bloggers posted in TRE in an article by Phillip Ang titled, ‘PAP should not disguise a subsidy as a grant’. But let me quote a para from Phillip, ‘The more citizens are assisted by the govt the worse off we are. If our economy was really on steroids, why should we need an ever increasing amount of handouts? Something is very wrong here.’ And here is a comment by a Tuck Wan and a Oxygen.

Tuck Wan: Phillip Ang, You are 100% right. I was billed $900+ after 80% subsidy for 3 days stay (C class). No surgery just medication, blood test and microprobing the stomach. If no subsidy then bill should be $4,500+. Still scratching my head why so expensive…

Oxygen: Quality of healthcare in C class care risk aggravation of patient’s health recovery from major surgery. The tragic result, if not eventuating in the death of the patient through breakout of infectious clusters, could prolong the stay of patients adding to their cost of hospitalization stay. Less in class C could well ended in a lot more for the unfortunate few – after hospitalization stay complication arising from lower quality care.

The hospital bill for a C Class ward has been inflated to such a huge sum that even after a 80% subsidy, the amount still comes to a substantial sum. And the people are not really paying for the services of world class doctors and nurses but those from the 3rd world countries where the medical training and standard are sub par from our very own medical professionals. And as Oxygen mentioned, and had happened several times, there is now a higher risk of getting infected in a breakout of infectious diseases due to lower level of medical standard. We had hepatitis C breakout that had never occurred before, then TB affecting children and babies and what else.

Everyone should be praying not to get sick, not just because of the hefty medical bills after subsidies and after Medishield Life but also the fear of the unknowns. How have we progressed? How many are still opting for A Class wards in privatized public govt hospitals? How many can afford this luxury?_________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

Singapore is an exceptionally safe place
About a week ago Channel News Asia had a programme on the scale of TB epidemic in India and how big a group of TB patients had developed full resistance to all the available drugs, ie no current drug will have any effect on their sickness and they would not be cured. The programme also quoted figures like 4m died annually from TB and worse, the TB patients were literally walking everywhere and spreading the disease. Please correct me if I misquote the number.
The first thought that came to mind was the hundreds of thousands of Indian natives in this island. Horror! They are travelling in the trains and buses day and night, in close proximity with the natives of the Red Dot, and they have this sick habit of sticking themselves to the natives, probably part of their way of life, like the crowded trains back home. Would they be spreading TB generously to the natives here?
My mind went whinning for answers. Oh, no cases of TB here, or very few cases. This means that TB is not wide spread in the island. It must be due to the stringent medical checks and controls, the vetting, to only allow those that are medically free of diseases to enter the island. We must give a pat on the back of MOH for keeping our city free from foreign diseases and epidemic. Then I managed a smile. It would not happen here, just like terrorists would not attack here, thanks to the intelligence agencies and the men in blue.
Singapore is safe from terrorism and diseases despite half the population coming from the 3rd world countries. This must be a miracle to brag about.
Oops, spoken too early didn’t I? Today’s front page news, a cluster of 6 TB patients in a block in Ang Mo Kio. How did that happen? And they are all Singaporeans, a bigger mystery. TB has more or less been eradicated here and should there by new cases, they must come in from abroad. But these 6 are all Singaporeans, suggesting that the disease could be indigenous. Or they may have been travelling overseas. They can’t contact TB here. If that is the case, many more Singaporeans would be having TB giving the confines and close proximity to foreigners sticking together in the trains and buses.
How did it happen? While the MOH is still investigating, they also assured the public that everything is under control and the 6 are no longer contagious. There is nothing to panic. TB needs long and close contact to develop and spread. Not sure the 20 or 30 minutes inside the trains and buses would be serious enough to get TB? But base on the last two decades of experience and empirical data, no problem. TB is not going to gain grounds in this island.
Singaporeans can sleep in peace. Only 6 cases mah._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

Productivity of the Ang Mo Kio TB cluster
Results from the screening of 225 people living in the same block of the 6 TB patients in Ang Mo Kio have produced 2 possible active TB cases and 45 with latent TB. These work out to be a 1 percent positive and 22 percent latent hits. The latent cases are reported to be not infectious and would not spread the disease until they turn positive. The Ministry also reported that normally 90 per cent of latent TB, ie 45, would not develop TB in their life time. So only 4 would likely contact TB eventually. All are now being treated for positive and latent TB.
The causes on how they contacted the TB have not been determined but likely, and must be due to some contact with the TB patients. All have been reported to have no direct contact with the 6. Then how could they possibly get into close contact or proximity with the 6? One likely possibility must be the lifts, in instances when one of the 6 was using the lift and the unaware went in after them.
The other higher possibility areas must be the trains or the offices they were working in. But these are unlikely the case for those screened positive in this exercise. But this does not rule out the 2 positive cases spreading in the trains or in their offices, or the 6 that may have travelled in trains and their work areas.
So far never heard of screenings in the work areas of the affected TB patients. It is almost impossible to screen commuters who happened to take the same trains. Would the Ministry attempt to screen those working in the same offices, using the same toilet cubicles or pantry?
This is not the end of the Ang Mo Kio cluster and the people that may be affected or infected through other means of contact could be out there. We are so lucky that there is no widespread of TB in the island when the jam packed trains are so conducive contraptions for the spread of communicable diseases like TB and what else._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

Singapore’s very successful open door policy
6.9m are not all that is coming to Singapore. We are also opening up for Chikungunya, TB, super bugs and now Zika. Poor children, got to siam TB and mothers to be got to siam Zika. Hope no mothers to be is bitten by this Zika thing. The option is unbearable.
Where could this Zika thing come from when all those affected did not visit Brazil? Infected in Singapore! Did the aedes mosquitoes know of our open door policy and come flying in first class cabin or economy?
This is the only way that the Zika thing can get here. How about tracing all those that were in Rio for the Olympics and call them up for a check up? And this must include the foreigners here who were in Rio as well. No one must be exempted from this call up. The aedes mosquitoes would not discriminate between the rich and powerful and the ordinary people. When they bite, they just bite whoever that is in their way.
A lot of work needs to be done. More work and jobs are created I am sure._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.